Mostly event announcements, news, and bicycle related activist opinions... Download Critical Mass flyers and posters, or upload your own Email vancouvercm~AT~gmail~DOT~com for a posting password Yes, we ride the last Friday of every month!

27.4.08

The Carfree Cities Mail Art Show - Invitation to Artists and Activists!

Invitation to Artists and Activists

The Carfree Cities Mail Art Show

For display at Portland, Oregon City Hall, June 2008

As the center-piece of the World Carfree Network's annual conference -previous events held in Prague, Berlin, Budapest, Bogota and Istanbul- this event will feature an installation of Mail Art from around theworld. We invite artists and writers everywhere to send originalmailable photos, paintings and collages, poetry and prose, celebratingfreedom from car culture in any and every phase of life, to:

SHIFT P.O. Box 6662 Portland, Oregon USA 97228

The official theme of this conference is "Rediscovering Proximity" Weshare our earth with billions of people as well as the whole naturalworld's myriad creatures and flora and ecosystems. Our transportationand urban planning choices directly impact the health of the planet.

The fact that Portland city offialdom has thrown open the doors ofCity Hall to celebrate freedom from auto-obsessed culture and theinterconnectedness between our local and global communities is animportant and unusual gesture for an American city.

This art will become part of a traveling exhibit and makefuture visits to cities hosting Carfree events. We regret being unableto return the pieces to the artists, but credit to all artists will bescrupulously noted. All art must be received before June 1st, 2008 tobe included in the show at City Hall in Portland.

Coming from out of town?Need tickets put aside for you?Need billeting?Need to borrow a bike?Email us!bikeprom@@@treadlyvictoria.com

The Bike Rider's Ball is an annual weekend of two-wheeled fun, taking place in Victoria, British Columbia. We are a community of devoted cyclists who share our love of bikes by throwing an annual celebratory weekend... The BIKE RIDER'S BALL! We want to spread the word that riding a bicycle is a fulfilling way of making life more enjoyable.

The 2008 BRB will be taking place April 25-27. Scheduled events include an art show and film screening, a bike race, a group ride, bike polo and other games, yoga for cyclists, a pancake breakfast, and of course... The Bike Prom: Where your bike is your date!

Anti-Car Petition Car

April 8th, 2008Anti-Car PetitionPosted by Patricia Simoes

Streets Are For People! are once again engaging the public and the government in an effort to disrupt our car-obsessed society.

To celebrate Earth Day, the group is preparing to present a "petition- car" to the Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park. The petition-car —which has been stripped of its motor and painted white — is covered with over 4,000 signatures and bears the message: "We the undersigned do hereby demand that not one more dollar go to promote, support, or perpetuate car culture. We want bike lanes, public transit and a train system. We want our public space back. We want local food, clean air, sustainable industry, a liveable future for our children, and an end to oil wars. We want to dance in the street. We want a government that values life over money."

The group's formal petition asks the government of Ontario to redirect the tax-dollars spent on the auto industry towards expanding public transit, developing an integrated train system, and investing in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. The petition also asks the government to begin the process of weaning our economy off the automobile industry by shifting Ontario's labour force into sustainable transportation sectors. Lastly, the petition also calls for a ban on car advertising, as according to Streets are for People! co-founder Shamez Amlani, cars "contribute to resource depletion, corporate hegemony, perpetual war, and urban decay."

8.4.08

Victoria Bike Art Show Call for Submissions

* Is the bicycle the subject of your art? * Do you make art from bikes or bike parts?

Then the Victoria Bike Art Show is for you!

The Victoria Bike Rider's Ball is hosting our second annual Bike Art Show. We are looking for bicycle-inspired work of all kinds, from paintings and sculptures to fashion and photography.

The 2008 Bike Art Show will be held at two galleries in downtown Victoria: www.fantanstudios.com Studio 16 1/2 in Fan Tan Alley (for three weeks from April 15 - May 6) and theprojectarts.com The Project Arts Community on Fisgard Street (for the opening on April 25). The Bike Art Show Opening will be held on April 25 as part of the annual Bike Rider's Ball weekend of two-wheeled fun.

Profits from sales will be split 70/30, with 70% to the artist and 30% to the gallery.

Please drop off submissions at recyclistas.ca Recyclistas Community Bike Shop (25 Crease Avenue, Victoria) by April 14, or contact mailto:bikeart@@@treadlyvictoria.com Late submissions (after April 14) will be accepted.

3.4.08

We are always looking for volunteers that would like to park some bikes, meet people and get a free meal. Who doesn't love a free meal? For volunteer, sponsorship or general inquires contact Cameron Reed: cam@@@best.bc.ca or 604 669 2860. Sign up soon because the events are approaching fast.Better Environmentally Sound Transportation'sBIKE VALET

Inspired by the wildly successful valet bicycle parking in San Francisco, over the last two years BEST has run Bike Valet in Vancouver with great result. Concert-goers in DeerLakePark, fans of the Vancouver Canadians, and families spending the day at community events have had their bicycles parked conveniently and stored safely while they enjoyed themselves worry-free. This year, BEST is expanding Bike Valet to serve even more events, park more bikes, and make traveling on two wheels throughout Metro Vancouver even easier.

Bike Valet is like a coat check for your bike. Patrons will sign a claim check and give us their bike. We provide them with a stub. After the event, patrons return the stub and we give them their bike back. It's that easy.

Find out how the proposed freeway, the South Perimeter Road, will impact you, your family and your community.

Residents of the Bolivar Heights community in North Surrey are holding an open meeting on Thursday to discuss the impacts of the Gateway megaproject on their neighbourhood. Of particular concern are the effects of increased traffic, pollution, and noise on the area, and the impacts that the new freeway and the highway expansion will have on the safety and livability ofthe community.

The meeting runs from 4 to 8pm. At 6pm there will be a panel presentation followed by questions and comments. Panelists include transportation activist Greg Hoover; Susan Jones of Against Port Expansion; Donna Passmore of Gateway 50; Jaime Boan, transport manager from the City of Surrey; Don Hunt of Sunbury Neighbourhood Association; Lucie Matich of Port Mann Community Assoc, and Joe Foy of the Wilderness Committee.

Come get informed, meet your neighbours, and support our communities south and north of the Fraser.